Raiders' offense on a roll

Bruce Adams, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published
4:00 am PDT, Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Quarterback Aaron Brooks had his best game of the preseason, leading the Raiders' starting offense to a 10-0 halftime lead in Sunday's win over the 49ers, and backup Andrew Walter turned in a pretty nifty performance himself.

Walter finished the game with eight completions in 10 attempts for 99 yards, leading two second-half scoring drives that put away the Raiders' 23-7 victory.

Brooks appeared to secure his grip on the role as No. 1 quarterback in what is becoming a two-man show.

All in all, it was an impressive showing on both sides of the ball, but a particular step forward for an offense that has had its share of misfires.

"Winning is a part of what we do ... it creates good habits," coach Art Shell said. "Even though we won three games ... there are a lot of mistakes we have to take care of."

On Sunday, Walter finished with the better quarterback rating, 107.9 compared with Brooks' 76.8 -- a rating brought down by one end-zone interception in Brooks' 10-for-17, 125-yard performance.

"Andrew performed well," Shell said Monday. "He came in and had good presence in the pocket, command in the huddle, threw the ball with touch and threw the ball with accuracy."

His longest throw was a 35-yard strike to John Madsen, keying the drive that set up a 23-yard field goal by David Kimball.

In the first drive of the second half, Walter was 4-for-5 as he brought the second team downfield to set up a 3-yard touchdown run by Justin Fargas.

The improvement on offense was seen all the way down the depth chart with the second- and third-string players holding their own.

Shell acknowledged that the performances in Sunday night's game could force some difficult decisions when it comes time to begin trimming the roster to get to the 53-man regular-season limit.

"It makes it tough, makes for tough decisions," he said. "Those are the kinds of decisions you don't mind having."

Preseason evaluations also can become difficult with injuries.

Shell, for example, was asked about rookie linebacker Timi Wusu, who was impressive in the early going. He missed the last game with a groin injury.

"The evaluation process started during the offseason," Shell said, noting exhibition games were only one factor in assessing a player's worth. "It's an accumulation of a lot of days of working out on the field."

Huff out: Strong safety Michael Huff, the team's No. 1 draft pick this year who turned his left ankle on the infield dirt in Sunday night's game, probably will miss Friday night's exhibition against the Lions at the Coliseum.

Shell and Huff both said after the game that the injury wasn't serious.

On Monday, Shell said further tests had made Huff "doubtful" for the next game, although he said he expected Huff to most certainly be ready for the opening of the regular season.

"We are going to be careful with that," Shell said.

Huff had an interception, which he returned for 44 yards, against the 49ers.

Penalty progress: For the first time in the preseason, the offensive line was not called for any false-start penalties.

"That's always a big plus," Shell said. "We talked about it all last week. ... The aggressive stuff you can live with ... but anything like pre-snap penalties -- false starts, jumping offside -- that's unacceptable."